Curtis Jenny Progress

Here is a little update on what I've been up to.  I've started a new project.  This time it is a wooden/metal kit instead of plastic.  It is a World War I era biplane, and will end up as a static display (non flying) model with all the internal details visible.

This one is both similar and quite different from the wooden ship that I previously built.  This project has generally the same raw materials:  laser-cut wood, stock strip wood, cast white metal, etc.  The big difference this time around is that I'm not following a course on the projects construction.  This just means that I have to follow the somewhat rough instructions that come with the model itself and do much more deciphering of the sheet plans.  This isn't a bad thing, just a different challenge.

So, I've decided to start with one of the top wing panels, in order to go through most of it's construction, and learn what I can in the process.  In theory, this should confine all my screw-ups to just one wing panel, making for less fixing later and smoother/faster construction of the other three panels.  With that said, here are some photos of my progress thus far:

Initial wing ribs layout.

Photo-etched fittings for later wire rigging.

Bending the wing tip rib.

More wing tip construction.

With the thin plywood leading edge cap strip.

Progress has been a bit slow so far, as I've not had as much free time as I would like.  But, stay tuned for more progress, some wood stain color tests and further adventures in modeling!